Today in History

Today is Friday, July 27, the 208th day of 2018. There are 157 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 27, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to adopt the first of three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon, charging he had personally engaged in a course of conduct designed to obstruct justice in the Watergate case.

On this date:

In 1789, President George Washington signed a measure establishing the Department of Foreign Affairs, forerunner of the Department of State.

In 1866, Cyrus W. Field finished laying out the first successful underwater telegraph cable between North America and Europe (a previous cable in 1858 burned out after only a few weeks' use).

In 1909, during the first official test of the U.S. Army's first airplane, Orville Wright flew himself and a passenger, Lt. Frank Lahm, above Fort Myer, Va., for one hour and 12 minutes.

In 1921, Canadian researcher Frederick Banting and his assistant, Charles Best, succeeded in isolating the hormone insulin at the University of Toronto.

In 1942, during World War II, the First Battle of El Alamein in Egypt ended in a draw as Allied forces stalled the progress of Axis invaders. (The Allies went on to win a clear victory over the Axis in the Second Battle of El Alamein later that year.)

In 1953, the Korean War armistice was signed at Panmunjom, ending three years of fighting.

In 1960, Vice President Richard M. Nixon was nominated for president on the first ballot at the Republican national convention in Chicago.

In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed the Kerner Commission to assess the causes of urban rioting, the same day black militant H. Rap Brown told a press conference in Washington that violence was "as American as cherry pie."

In 1980, on day 267 of the Iranian hostage crisis, the deposed Shah of Iran died at a military hospital outside Cairo, Egypt, at age 60.

In 1981, 6-year-old Adam Walsh was abducted from a department store in Hollywood, Fla., and was later murdered. (His father, John Walsh, became a well-known crime victims' advocate.)

In 1996, terror struck the Atlanta Olympics as a pipe bomb exploded at Centennial Olympic Park, directly killing one person and injuring 111. (Anti-government extremist Eric Rudolph later pleaded guilty to the bombing, exonerating security guard Richard Jewell, who had been wrongly suspected.)

In 2003, comedian Bob Hope died in Toluca Lake, California, at age 100.

Ten years ago: A gunman went on a rampage at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, killing two people and wounding six others. (Jim D. Adkisson later pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.) Two bombs targeting civilians at a packed square in Istanbul, Turkey, killed 17 people. Iran hanged 29 people convicted of murder, drug trafficking and other crimes. Carlos Sastre of Spain won the Tour de France in one of the closest finishes in the 105-year-old race.

Five years ago: Security forces and armed men clashed with supporters of Egypt's ousted president, Mohammed Morsi, killing at least 80 people. More than a thousand inmates escaped a prison in Libya as protesters stormed political party offices across the country. Former Louisiana congresswoman Lindy Boggs, 97, died in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

One year ago: New White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, in an interview published by The New Yorker, attacked chief of staff Reince Priebus and other White House officials in sometimes profane terms. (A day later, President Donald Trump announced that Priebus was being replaced by John Kelly. Scaramucci himself was ousted on July 31.) The Boy Scouts' chief executive apologized to those offended by the aggressive political rhetoric in President Donald Trump's recent speech to the Scouts' national jamboree. As stock in Amazon hit an all-time high, CEO Jeff Bezos briefly became the world's richest man; Microsoft founder Bill Gates reclaimed the lead by afternoon as Amazon stock fell nearly 1 percent for the day.

Today's Birthdays: TV producer Norman Lear is 96. Sportscaster Irv Cross is 79. Actor John Pleshette is 76. Actress-director Betty Thomas is 71. Olympic gold medal figure skater Peggy Fleming is 70. Singer Maureen McGovern is 69. Actress Janet Eilber is 67. Rock musician Tris Imboden (Chicago) is 67. Actress Roxanne Hart is 64. Country musician Duncan Cameron is 62. Comedian-actress-writer Carol Leifer is 62. Comedian Bill Engvall is 61. Jazz singer Karrin Allyson is 56. Country singer Stacy Dean Campbell is 51. Rock singer Juliana Hatfield is 51. Actor Julian McMahon is 50. Actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is 48. Comedian Maya Rudolph is 46. Rock musician Abe Cunningham is 45. Singer-songwriter Pete Yorn is 44. Former MLB All-Star Alex Rodriguez is 43. Actor Seamus Dever is 42. Actor Jonathan Rhys (rees) Meyers is 41. Actress/comedian Heidi Gardner is 35. Actor Blair Redford is 35. Actress Taylor Schilling is 34. Singer Cheyenne Kimball is 28. Golfer Jordan Spieth is 25. Actress Alyvia Alyn Lind is 11.

Thought for Today: "We usually know what we can do, but temptation shows us who we are." -- Thomas a Kempis, German theologian (1380-1471).